Dordt College Basketball Wrap from Tuesday November 7th

The Dordt College men’s basketball team improved to a perfect 4-0 with a dominating 90-43 performance over the visiting Grace Royals this evening in a non-conference match up.

Dordt College used a 17-6 spurt, capped by a Cliff Warner 3 pointer to turn a mere five point cushion (16-11) at the 12:34 mark into a 16 point advantage (38-22) with two and half minutes to play in the first half. Back to back 3 pointers got the Royals back to within 10 but a pair of Trevor Wolterstorff free-throws gave the Defenders back their 16 point cushion (44-28) going in to half time.

The Defenders proceeded to score the first 16 points of the second half to blow the game open and found themselves leading by 32 (60-28)just 5 minutes in to the second half. Dordt College extended the lead to 40 points on an Elliott Christians layup at 10:36 and the Royals would not be able to cut in to the 40 point advantage for the duration as the Defenders pick up their 4th win to start the season.

Dordt’s Cliff Warner led all scorers as the senior had 24 points, shooting 7 of 13 from the floor, including 6 of 12 from three point range and was a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe, Warner also had an assist and 2 steals. Jordan Vogel added 12 points for the Defenders while Nathan Rindels and Elliott Christians both had 10 coming off the bench for Dordt. Shawn Keizer and Elliott Christians were tied with team high honors in rebounds with 6 apiece and Trevor Wolterstorff led the Defenders with 4 assists.

The Royals were paced by Treston Mayo who finished with 10 points as the stifling Defender defense did not allow anyone else to score in double figures. Hakeem Stewart and Lance Evans both snared 7 rebound for Grace.

Dordt College held the Royals to just 26.1% shooting from the floor on 18 of 69 attempts. Grace shot 5 of 21 from beyond the arc for 23.8% and the Royals made 2 of 4 free throws in the contest and did not make a single trip to the line in the second half.

The Defenders were one field goal shy of shooting 50% from the floor as they made 30-61 (49.2%) including 11 of 26 from three point range. From the free throw line Dordt College was 19 of 27 for 70.4%.

The Royals narrowly outrebounded Dordt grabbing 44 boards to Dordt’s 43, however Dordt forced Grace in to 24 turnovers while coughing the ball up only 12 times themselves.

Next up on the Defender’s schedule is a pair of games in Orange City as part of the Northwestern Classic. On Friday, November 9, Dordt College will take on Waldorf at 6:00 pm and will follow that up with a game against AIB at 2:00 pm on Saturday, November 10.

Dordt’s Current Record: 4-0 (0-0)

The Dordt College women’s basketball team went toe to toe with the #8 ranked Grand View Vikings and the Defenders had a shot at the buzzer to win that wouldn’t drop, falling by a final of 64-62. Dordt College falls to 0-3 on the season with the loss while the Vikings improve to 3-0.

A Jasmin Schelhaas three pointer at 10:27 gave the Defenders their second 5 point margin (18-13) of the first half but the Vikings rattled off the next 5 points to tie the game at 18-18. A Kara Van Dyke basket at 7:16 sparked an 8-0 run for the Defenders and Dordt led 26-18 with just over 5 minutes to play in the first half. A pair of Schelhaas free-throws put Dordt up by 5 (29-24) with 1:25 remaining but the Vikings scored the final 4 points to cut the Dordt advantage down to 1 (29-28) going in to the break.

A Morgan Hamner layup to open up the second half gave the Vikings their first lead of the game at 30-29 and a Lene Lox 3 pointer pushed the advantage to 4 (33-29)but Dordt responded with a pair of Robyn Blount free throws and a Jessica Jelsema jumper to tie it at 33-33 with 17:31 to play.

The teams were knotted at 37-37 with 16:10 on the clock when the Vikings went on a 10-4 run to take a 47-41 advantage at 12:44 but the Defenders rallied with a 10-0 run of their own, and the Defenders led 51-47 with 10 minutes to play. Dordt pushed the lead to as many as 5 (54-49) on an Elise Maresh jumper with 7:32 left and the two teams were tied at 54, 56 and 58. A Mika Rodewald layup broke the 58-58 tie with 2:45 to play and Dordt’s Brianna Spronk cut the lead to one on a made free-throw with 1:25 left but was unable to tie the game with her second attempt. Shelbie Beatty hit a jumper for the Vikings to push the lead to 3 (62-59) with 25 seconds to play and Amy Vos made it 63-59 with a made free-throw with 13 seconds left.

Trailing by 4, Dordt’s Danelle Boone nailed a deep three pointer with 6 seconds to go to get within 1 (63-62). The Defenders quickly fouled on the inbound pass and Shelby Beattie could only connect on one free-throw, giving Dordt a chance to tie or win. With time running down, Boone was able to get another nice look at a three but couldn’t get the game winner over the ranked opponent.

“Our effort was outstanding,” said Dordt head coach Craig Stiemsma, “and our execution was the best it’s been so far this year. There were definitely a lot of positives for us in this game.”

Dordt was led in scoring by Brianna Spronk, who finished with 16 points on 4-9 from the floor with one made three and 7-10 from the charity stripe while Kara Van Dyke ended with 15 points on 6-12 from the floor with one three and 2-4 from the line. Van Dyke also paced Dordt College in rebounding with 12 boards and had a team high 2 assists.

Scoring honors for the Vikings went to Lene Lox who had 17 points on 6-9 from the floor with 2 three and 3 of 4 from the line. Shelby Beatty and Mika Rodewald each added a dozen points with Rodewald also snaring a game high 13 rebounds. Abby Mendlik dished out a game high 5 assists.

The Defenders were 21-60 (35%) from the floor, 5-19 (26%) from three point range and 15-25 (60%) from the charity stripe.

Grand View finished the night shooting 41.8% from the floor on 23 of 55 with 3 of 8 (37.5%) from beyond the arc and 15-25% on free throws.

The Vikings pulled down 46 boards while Dordt grabbed 34 and the Defenders had 16 turnovers while forcing the Vikings in to committing 23.

The Defender women will travel to Chicago to take on Moody Bible Institute on Friday, November 9 as part of the Moody Bible Tournament. The consolation game of the tournament will be held at noon on Saturday, November 10 with the championship scheduled for a 2:00 pm tip-off.

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